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Romeo and Juliet (Quotes (Juliet wants it to be "night…
Romeo and Juliet
Quotes
Juliet wants it to be "night immediately" so she can spend the night with her husband - Act 3 Scene 2
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"beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical" - Juxtaposing words reflect Juliet's confusion when describing Romeo after he has killed Tybalt
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Originally, Capulet wanted Juliet to have a "scope of choice" but this soon changes (over who she wants to marry)
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"be but sworn my love, / And I'll no longer be a Capulet" - Juliet is willing to stop being a Capulet for Romeo
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"For there never was a story of more woe, Than this of Juliet and her Romeo" - The last two lines of the play are written in a heroic couplet, two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter which gives a sense of closure to the play
"My will to her consent is but a part" - Capulet is originally seeming like a protective fatherly figure which goes against the Elizabethan ideas of the father being the owner of his daughter and wife
Mercutio is talkative - "Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace. Thou talk'st of nothing"
Romeo's Soliloquy Act 2 Scene 2 - He is describing Juliet using images of light:
"Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon"
"Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven"
"As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven" - Religious images
"O for a falc'ners voice" - Juliet wishes she was a falconer and could lure the bird in (Romeo is the bird). She needs Romeo to leave the Capulet grounds so neither of them get into trouble. This idea of flight and birds gives a sense of freedom as birds can escape through flight - they are used as a cruel irony to highlight the lack of freedom
Plot Overview
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Act One
- This begins with a sword fight between the two families which emphasises how the story is about conflict between them
- Romeo is in love with Rosaline, who doesn't love him. This shows that he is romantic and emotional. - This relationship follows the ideas of courtly love which was a way of wooing a lady in medieval times as the man worshipped her from afar
- Paris asks Capulet if he can marry Juliet, and her parents say they will think about it - Juliet's relationship with Paris seems to be for financial reasons as she will "share all that he doth possess"
- There is a ball at the Capulet's house, Romeo and Benvolio decide to go there with Mercutio. This creates suspense as Romeo and Benvolio are Montagues. Romeo is worried about the party as he thinks something bad is going to happen. Mercutio makes a speech about Queen Mab who brings dreams to sleepers and says we are responsible for our own dreams - lovers "dream of love"
- Romeo sees Juliet, but Tybalt spots Romeo and wants to fight, but Capulet stops him. Romeo and Juliet talk and their first conversation is a sonnect (a structured love poem). They use religious imagery when speaking and they completely understand each other. But at the end there is suspense as they realise that they are from different families.
Act Two
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- Mercutio and Benvolio are looking for Romeo, but can't find him so go home. Mercutio makes jokes about Romeo's love for Rosaline and this takes a break from the intense emotional atmosphere
- This is the balcony bit where Juliet has her soliloquy about how she feels about Romeo - this scene is intense and rushed and they decide to get married the next day
- Romeo books the church with the Friar and they seem to have a close relationship as the Friar refers to Romeo as "Young son" and "pupil mine" - the Friar seems to foreshadow future events here as well
- The Nurse takes some stick as Romeo, Mercutio and Benvolio fool around with her and Romeo seems more cheerful - "Now art thou sociable, now art thou Romeo"
- Juliet waits for the Nurse who has her news and Juliet is impatient, she says she can't believe that it's "three hours long, yet she is not come" and accuses the Nurse of being "unwieldy, slow, heavy". She also says "wind-swift Cupid wings" and she wants the news from Romeo faster. When the Nurse comes she teases Juliet by giving her information slowly and this reflects their loving relationship
- This is just before the wedding which is very shoty and shows the audience how rushed the wedding is as there are no preparations. The Friar says, "come, come with me and we will make short work" - this shows that he wants them to marry quickly. From here they get married and are told to love moderately.
Act Three
- Mercutio and Tybalt are killed. Romeo is banished by the Prince for killing Tybalt.
- Juliet knows that Tybalt has been killed by Romeo but she feels conflicting emotions within as she doesn't know whose side to take. She originally thinks Romeo is dead and this makes her say suicidal things, but then she realises Tybalt has died and she is angry that "Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood". In the end she thinks that Romeo is evil but she still loves him and decides to stand by him.
- Romeo thinks banishment has "more terror" than death. He repeats the word "banishment" several tims which show that he is not thinking straight. There are similarities between now and the previous scene as they have both been feeling suicidal. The Friar convinces Romeo to not kill himself and grow up - "Art thou a man?" Romeo soon becomes happy and excited which is a sharp change from being suicidal
- The Capulets agree to let Paris marry Juliet and Capulet tells Paris that the wedding will happen on Thursday, as he thinks she will be "rul'd / In all aspects" by him. There is dramatic irony, as the audience knows this cannot happen as it would be a sin because Juliet is already married to someone.
- Romeo is leaving for Mantua and they drag out saying goodbye. Juliet pretends it isn't morning yet - "It was the nightingale and not the lark". There is foreshadowing as Juliet says that Romeo looks like he is "dead in the bottom of a tomb". Then later, Capulet tells Juliet that she is going to get married soon, and this ends in sadness and anger. Juliet then needs to find someone to help her - The Friar.
Act 4
- The Friar has a plan to help her, and he has to as he is a religious man and cannot let her marry a second time
- Juliet tells her parents that she was disobedient and will marry Paris, and her parents believe her
- Juliet gets ready to take the potion and sends her mother and Nurse away, but then she wants to "call them back to comfort" her as she feels alone and scared. Juliet has a soliloquy before she takes the potion where she describes the tomb in a horrible way.
- They are preparing for the wedding and they are all in a good mood. This created suspense as the audience knows that the Capulets are in for a shock.
- The Capulets are shocked and upset, everyone is sad and emotional. The Nurse thinks Juliet is sleeping late, but soon realises that she is actually dead. Foreshadowing is used when Capulet described Juliet's death using the image that "Death" is his "son-in-law" which foreshadows her true fate as her marriage with Romeo will lead to her death. This is then a bit unusual as Peter gets the musicians to play something cheerful.
Act 5
- Romeo is dreaming that he was dead and that Juliet brought him back to life with a kiss, this foreshadows what later happens, but Juliet's kiss doesn't bring him back to life. Romeo is then told that Juliet is dead and Romeo calls on an apothecary to get some poison to be able to kill himself. Fate - the letter didn't arrive which could be seen as fate, but it could also be seen as impatience
- The Friar's letter doesn't get to Romeo which creates more tension and so Romeo rushes to Verona to kill himself next to Juliet. Each character seems to be ignorant of one piece of vital information, and this ignorance is driving the plot closer to a tragedy.
- Paris is killed by Romeo at the tomband then Romeo goes and kills himself next to juliet just before she wakes up. Fate - this could be argued to be the cause of his death. Romeo has a soliloquy before he dies where he describes his emotions and thoughts so the audience know exactly how he is feeling. When Juliet wakes up she sees Romeo and decides to kill herself. Then everyone comes on stage and finds out the truth which creates a sense of confusion and chaos. The Prince blames the feud for everything and Capulet and Montague make peace in the end.
Characters
The Friar
"These violent delights have violent ends" - Friar Lawrence is saying that sudden love will have a sudden end
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"Virtue itself turns vice" - moral behaviour can turn immoral and plants used to cure can also be misused to kill. This foreshadows Romeo's suicide by poison and Juliet's use of a potion to fake her own death
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Foreshadowing - The Friar says many things which end up happening, and this makes him seem wise and knowledgeable
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Romeo
"Love-devouring death do what he dare" - this is almost as if he is tempting fate and this is dramatic irony as the audience know that Romeo and Juliet will die
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Juliet
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Context - women's place in society. Juliet is rebelling against society's expectations and her family. Her parents would have been very angry, which is why she doesn't tell them
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Mercutio
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He mocks other characters, he calls Tybalt "King of Cats" and "rat-catcher" to wind him up
His speech is full of puns and wordplay - "Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man" - Double meaning of word grave - serious and a place for dead people
The Nurse
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She calls Juliet things like: "lamb", "ladybird", and "pretty fool"
The Nurse makes sexual jokes and puns, such as, "you shall bear the burden soon at night"
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Points in the Novel
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The Balcony Scene
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Soliloquy - Juliet's speech, this is where she is talking to herself but Romeo overhears it and she doesn't know that he is beneath her window. Shakespeare does this because it allows Juliet to speak openly about her true feelings
The Nurse then calls her after she realises and she goes inside and comes back in several times which adds to the rushed feel and this shows that it is difficult for them to be alone
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Juliet suggests that they get married and Romeo promises to organise this the next day which shows how rushed and impulsive their love is
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"If they do see thee, they will murder thee" - If they see Romeo they will murder him
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Paris and Romeo's Deaths
Romeo tells his servant to leave when they get to the tomb and he threatens to tear him "joint by joint" if he stays. This shows how determined Romeo is to die
Paris thinks that Romeo is here to vandalise the tomb so Paris decides to defend Juliets honour - the audience knows that Paris's actions are pointless
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Dramatic Irony - the audience knows how close Romeo is to realising that she isn't dead, but he doesn't know how true his own words are. This increases the sadness of the scene.
Fate - Romeo thinks that fate is trying to keep them apart, but Romeo will bring them back together
When Romeo dies, he says "Here's to my love!" which mirrors when Juliet drinks the potion and says, "Romeo! ... I drink to thee"
Then Juliet wakes up, but she sees Romeo dead and tries to poison herself by kissing him and hoping that some of the poison is on his lips. But, then she has to kill herself a different way and she does
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Friar Lawrence explains how the whole thing was his fault, but The Prince ends up blaming the feud
Capulet and Montague make peace and agree to put up a "statue in pure gold" in memory of Romeo and Juliet - so even though it is a tragedy, it does have a happy ending
Fate - The Prince says "heaven finds means to kill your joys with love" which means that he thinks heaven played an important role in the play
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Conflict, Honour and Feuds
Family and marriage are usually positive things, but Shakespeare uses the feud to show how strong feelings like love and honour can sometimes lead to conflict
The feud causes deaths, but the two families don't give up the feud which shows how important honour is to their families
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When Romeo and Juliet first meet, the hatred of the feud already starts to tear them apart as Tybalt wants to fight Romeo
Religion
During Shakespeare's time everyone had to go to church on Sunday, anyone who didn't go had to pay a fine
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Fate
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There is a lot of foreshadowing with reference to graves and curses throughout the play where the audience are never allowed to forget Romeo and Juliet are doomed
As Romeo is about to die, he says he wants to "shake the yoke of inauspicious stars" which means he wants to be free from his fate
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Family and Marriage
Rich people like the Capulets didn't get married for love, they used to get married with someone rich and powerful. It was like a business deal - a way to get money or power
When Juliet refuses to marry Paris, Capulet is furious as he sees her as his property, so she should do as he says. He also thinks that he has done his duty to set her up with a good match
Romeo and Juliet's love conflicts with the family feud as they cannot be together because their families are enemies
Imagery and Symbolism
"My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee The more I have, for both are infinite." - Act 2 Scene 2
The quote below is where Juliet is comparing her love to the sea, and this is an epic silmile which is very long and these images have a lot of impact on the audience
Images of Light
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"O she doth teach the torches to burn bright" - Act 1, Scene 5
Juliet is so beautiful that she seems to oshine more brightly than the torches that light the party
"But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun." - Act 2 Scene 2
It is night time and for Romeo, seeing Juliet is like looking at the dawn
Juliet uses an image of lightning to describe their love - "too sudden, / too like the lightning, which doth cease to be". - this image uses light to show a different side to their love which is that it will be powerful and shocking, but it may only last for a little while
Conflict - The strength of the feud mean that Romeo and Juliet live in a dark and violent society, and using images of light shows how their love lights up that darkness and offers hope of ending the feud